Professional Poker League
 

Does anyone know anything about this? My impression is that they've put the brakes on this, but I haven't heard much about it.

Re: Professional Poker League
 

I heard from a source that the PPL is putting together its eligibility list.

I had heard that Evelyn Ng made the cut, but Clonie Gowen and Liz Lieu did NOT.

Re: Professional Poker League
 

[ QUOTE ]
I heard from a source that the PPL is putting together its eligibility list.

I had heard that Evelyn Ng made the cut, but Clonie Gowen and Liz Lieu did NOT.

[/ QUOTE ]
If true, it's just another invitational.

Re: Professional Poker League
 

Check out Daniel Negreanu's blog entry about the league.

http://www.cardplayer.com/poker_news/blog_entry/142

Re: Professional Poker League
 

http://olivertsepoker.com/PPL_PPT.aspx

Evelyn Ng and Liz Lieu are IN.

Greg Raymer and Kathy Liebert are OUT.

Re: Professional Poker League
 

Did this start today? Pokerpages live updates noted Men Nguyen got a refund for his USPC buyin and went to the PPL. Plus the field is missing several regulars.

Re: Professional Poker League
 

The draft is on Saturday. Oliver Tse mentioned in a post in the tournament circuit forum, many of the names that are expected to be in the draft will be at the Venetian for TV exposure.

Re: Professional Poker League
 

[ QUOTE ]
Did this start today? Pokerpages live updates noted Men Nguyen got a refund for his USPC buyin and went to the PPL. Plus the field is missing several regulars.

[/ QUOTE ]

Most of the "64 of the best poker players in the world" who "mastered the art of playing the poker game behind the poker game" in order to secure their selection to the PPL chose to "skip" the USPC so that they can be at the Venetian Las Vegas on Saturday for the PPL "inaugural draft" in order to get GUARANTEED TV EXPOSURE TIME.

The USPC took a hit from the PPL, but not that big a hit. 261 players, about 1/2 the size of the field compared to the WPT at the Borgata 2 weeks ago.

The PPL succeeded in being the "PPT-killer", but didn't really succeed as the "USPC-killer".

Re: Professional Poker League
 

:U

Re: Professional Poker League
 

A comparison between Borgata Poker Open and the USPC:

2005: WPT 515 USPC 226
2006: WPT 540 USPC 261

Re: Professional Poker League
 

[ QUOTE ]
A comparison between Borgata Poker Open and the USPC:

2005: WPT 515 USPC 226
2006: WPT 540 USPC 261

[/ QUOTE ]

The USPC did NOT advertise in CardPlayer Magazine in 2005, but did so in 2006.

FullTilt did NOT run satellites for the USPC in 2005, but did so in 2006.

The superb TV coverage of the 2005 USPC by ESPN Original Entertainment is one factor for the increase in the number of players for the 2006 USPC, despite the best efforts of the PPL to try to "cripple" the USPC by removing "64 of the best poker players in the world" from the USPC field.

Re: Professional Poker League
 

A shame if you ask me. I love watching the USPC and I'd rather see the pros in that tournament instead of the goofy PPL.

Re: Professional Poker League
 

Why would the PPL try to kill off the USPC? I can't understand why the best players in the world would skip this tournament to attend a draft that won't even happen until the day of the USPC final table.

Is there actually any money behind the PPL? I haven't heard anything about how much it is or where its coming from, but if it is anything like the PPT, I'm sure it pales in comparison to what could be made at a deep-stacked major event like the USPC.

Re: Professional Poker League
 

I'd suggest reading Daniel Negreanu's blog entry regarding the PPL. It seems they have the money and TV behind it.

Re: Professional Poker League
 

[ QUOTE ]
I'd suggest reading Daniel Negreanu's blog entry regarding the PPL. It seems they have the money and TV behind it.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah, I've read this, but he doesn't say anything about how much money is involved, or where it is coming from, or where this is going to be on television. Given the PPT's experience, I'm very suspicious.

Re: Professional Poker League
 

That's all a big secret until Saturday I suppose. It would seem it's a major network if some of those 64 decided not to play in the USPC.

Re: Professional Poker League
 

[ QUOTE ]

Why would the PPL try to kill off the USPC? I can't understand why the best players in the world would skip this tournament to attend a draft that won't even happen until the day of the USPC final table.

Is there actually any money behind the PPL? I haven't heard anything about how much it is or where its coming from, but if it is anything like the PPT, I'm sure it pales in comparison to what could be made at a deep-stacked major event like the USPC.

[/ QUOTE ]

You still think like a gambler and/or a journeyman poker player.

The "64 of the best poker players in the world" think like ENTERTAINERS.

When given the following choices:

1. Risk $10000 of either your own money, your backer's money, and/or your sponsor's money with a 90% chance of losing all of it, or

2. Getting GUARANTEED TV exposure time, a GUARANTEED sponsorship fee (from one's sponsor), and a GUARANTEED TV appearance fee for showing up at a TV taping dubbed the "inaugural draft" (one would be naive to think that a real draft, i.e. one that hasn't been "scripted", will take place.)

The choice is very clear: getting guaranteed money with ZERO RISK is always better than putting your own money at risk.

And yes, the PPL has every reason to try kill off PPT and to try cripple the USPC, regardless of whether the scheduling of the PPL "inaugural draft" TV taping was done intentionally or not in order to accomplish both.

(The PPT was dying anyway, so the PPL didn't have to do much to put the PPT "in the coffin".)

The TV poker industry in the U.S. is now a zero-sum game, as that genre has matured (flat TV ratings year-to-year after a decline from their peak in 2004).

With the pool of online gaming advertising dollars to be spent in the U.S. shrinking dramatically, rival programs will have to fight for every sponsorship dollar available. Advertising money spent on the PPL can't be spent on the PPT or the USPC, and vice versa.

Remember that NBC Universal tried to wound the WPT by scheduling Bravo Celebrity Poker Showdown in a head-to-head confrontation. Ultimately, Celebrity Poker Showdown lost that battle and has been put on "indefinite hiatus".

Re: Professional Poker League
 

[ QUOTE ]
That's all a big secret until Saturday I suppose. It would seem it's a major network if some of those 64 decided not to play in the USPC.

[/ QUOTE ]

Any promotion can get on any U.S. TV network if the promoter is willing to write a fat check for $150,000-$250,000 per hour of TV time.

The PPL, much like PokerDome, had to raise a lot of money (believed to be in the mid 8-figures) in order to get off the ground.

Re: Professional Poker League
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]

Why would the PPL try to kill off the USPC? I can't understand why the best players in the world would skip this tournament to attend a draft that won't even happen until the day of the USPC final table.

Is there actually any money behind the PPL? I haven't heard anything about how much it is or where its coming from, but if it is anything like the PPT, I'm sure it pales in comparison to what could be made at a deep-stacked major event like the USPC.

[/ QUOTE ]


The "64 of the best poker players in the world" think like ENTERTAINERS.

When given the following choices:

1. Risk $10000 of either your own money, your backer's money, and/or your sponsor's money with a 90% chance of losing all of it, or

2. Getting GUARANTEED TV exposure time, a GUARANTEED sponsorship fee (from one's sponsor), and a GUARANTEED TV appearance fee for showing up at a TV taping dubbed the "inaugural draft" (one would be naive to think that a real draft, i.e. one that hasn't been "scripted", will take place.)



[/ QUOTE ]

This would all make sense if there actually were guaranteed money and TV time behind this. But I haven't seen anything to suggest this is true. The PPT seemed to have far more publicity and far more promise when they started than this PPL does, and we know how that turned out.

Re: Professional Poker League
 

Can anyone tell me what happened to the NPA Tour that was supposed to have an event at Hollywood Park last month (and that Matusow talked about during his Circuit interview)? Or any links to articles and/or threads would be appreciated, thanks.

Re: Professional Poker League
 

[ QUOTE ]
Can anyone tell me what happened to the NPA Tour that was supposed to have an event at Hollywood Park last month (and that Matusow talked about during his Circuit interview)? Or any links to articles and/or threads would be appreciated, thanks.

[/ QUOTE ]

The NAPT/IPA/NPA/NAPP/etc. never got the necessary funding to get off the ground.

The parent company, Hansen Gray, never passed my "smell test", as the current directors and one of the former founders were suing each other.

Re: Professional Poker League
 

[ QUOTE ]

The "64 of the best poker players in the world" think like ENTERTAINERS.

When given the following choices:

1. Risk $10000 of either your own money, your backer's money, and/or your sponsor's money with a 90% chance of losing all of it, or

2. Getting GUARANTEED TV exposure time, a GUARANTEED sponsorship fee (from one's sponsor), and a GUARANTEED TV appearance fee for showing up at a TV taping dubbed the "inaugural draft" (one would be naive to think that a real draft, i.e. one that hasn't been "scripted", will take place.)

The choice is very clear: getting guaranteed money with ZERO RISK is always better than putting your own money at risk.

And yes, the PPL has every reason to try kill off PPT and to try cripple the USPC, regardless of whether the scheduling of the PPL "inaugural draft" TV taping was done intentionally or not in order to accomplish both.

(The PPT was dying anyway, so the PPL didn't have to do much to put the PPT "in the coffin".)

With the pool of online gaming advertising dollars to be spent in the U.S. shrinking dramatically, rival programs will have to fight for every sponsorship dollar available. Advertising money spent on the PPL can't be spent on the PPT or the USPC, and vice versa.

[/ QUOTE ]

Oliver,

Many of us in the poker community will have an increased interest in getting accurate news about what is going on with online gaming and televised poker programming, now that many pokers sites are pulling out of the US market.

You obviously talk to a lot of people and post what you hear. But you also post things that I know aren't true. Because of this, it makes it hard for me to give you credibility when you talk about things I don't know.

You will serve all of us better, if you indicate which things are facts, which things are hearsay, and which things are your own guesses.

Just to clear up some things:

1. The PPL will make more money off other aspects of the league than playing for prizepools. That is why some players were included in the league although their tournament records were not good. These players had other aspects that were marketable or that were relevant for other revenue streams of the PPL.

2. The PPT's problems had nothing to do with the PPL. The PPT went down because paying for programming became the way that the big pocket Internet sites did business. That made it difficult for the PPT to get a good television contract.

However, going forward, the PPL will offer much more in prizepools to the players than the PPT can, as well as many non-playing ways to make money. But, it will also require more of their time. Players are free to play in the PPT if it comes back to life, which it might if the Internet companies have no reason to advertise and run TV tournaments for a US market.

3. The PPL didn't try to take down the USPC. Players were asked to take part in draft activities at the Venetian on October 6th and 7th. We thought these dates were good because many people would start getting in town for the Bellagio tournament. A few days later and we would have a conflict with the High Stakes Poker taping or the Bellagio final event. I wanted to play in the USPC, as did many others. Some players played and hoped that they would be excused from the draft if they made it to the final table. None of the team captains played in the USPC.

4. I was an important voice in getting rid of the exclusivity clause in the PPL contract. I think that if the PPL is as good as we think it will be, poker players will choose to play where they make the most money, but they will also play in some other events that they enjoy. If they do well in these other events and they are part of the PPL, it helps build a case that the PPL has the best players.

It is to our disadvantage to kill other programs that spotlight our individual players and increase their marketability. It would also be to our disadvantage to let a new crop of marketable players start winning WSOP, WPT, and other televised events, which would happen if we restricted the PPL players from playing.

5. The PPL draft certainly hasn't been scripted. We have six categories of players to choose from and we have to choose one player from each category. The categories are now called pools A through F. They were originally titled Young Guns, Personalities, Talented Players, Women, Internationals, and Legends.

Most of the Legends became captains and we have some extra women in the league, so the previous category names don't totally fit.

It's not clear how much money each team will generate with fantasy camps, corporate outings and other things on a team by team basis. None of the captains are sure how much we should factor in other assets of the players into our decision of who to draft.

I am in the process of preparing for the draft, and I will draft mostly on talent, which I suspect will be the approach of most of the other team captains.

Barry

Re: Professional Poker League
 

Oh man, if I'd known 64 of the best would be sitting out of the USPC I sure as hell would have made an effort to qualify, maybe even bought in directly

Is the list of draft-eligible players and the categories they are put into available yet? What about the captains? I'm awfully curious.
(And I would totally participate in a "PPL Mock Draft".)

Re: Professional Poker League
 

[ QUOTE ]

This would all make sense if there actually were guaranteed money and TV time behind this. But I haven't seen anything to suggest this is true. The PPT seemed to have far more publicity and far more promise when they started than this PPL does, and we know how that turned out.

[/ QUOTE ]

One source who managed to obtain a copy of the final PPL contract claims that the guaranteed annual salaries to the 64 players combined is in the low "8-figures".

If that were indeed true, then you will have another reason why those 64 PPL'ers skipped the USPC.

Re: Professional Poker League
 

[ QUOTE ]
One source who managed to obtain a copy of the final PPL contract claims that the guaranteed annual salaries to the 64 players combined is in the low "8-figures".

[/ QUOTE ]

I think your "sources" are having as much fun with you as the rest of us are.

Barry\'s Comments
 

Barry,

Thanks for taking time to post your thoughts and insider understanding of the new PPL. I think the 2+2 community as a whole is impressed your direct response on this new venture.

I am often amused at some of the claims, information or just plain old negative vibe that some posters on these forums put forth...on any given topic in any given forum. Pick one! However, I believe these folks are the minority; they just make a bigger noise. I would hope that most of the time the readers of these forums can "see between the lines" and discern where the poster is coming from... ie, a reliable source with an honest perspective or an anonymous rant from a skeptic, hater or egotistical blowhard.

Actually, on the topic of the PPL, most of what is posted here and elsewhere is positive and people are anxious to see what develops. I am in that group from a dual perspective. One as a longtime poker player and fan of the game and also as an employee in the Venetian's poker room. Call me biased, but I will be upfront about working there.

All of us are looking forward to providing the PPL good service and excellent facilities, as I think the Venetian has tried to do for all of its everyday poker players since the room opened. It will be fun being a part of what develops with the PPL.

Good Luck, Billy

PS, take it easy on the "regular" poker players in the bounty tournament tonight...

Re: Barry\'s Comments
 

The draw for players is today, anyone hear anything yet?

Re: Barry\'s Comments
 

[ QUOTE ]
The draw for players is today, anyone hear anything yet?

[/ QUOTE ]

From Negreanu's blog:

[ QUOTE ]
Before we go any further with what happened from my perspective, here is a run down on what exactly happened at the draft.

Team 1:
Co-Captain- T.J. Cloutier
Co-Captain- Dewey Tomko
1) Chau Giang
16) Danny Alaei
17) Carlos Mortenson
32) Linda Johnson
33) Layne Flack
48) Amir Vahedi

Team 2:
Co-Captain- Chip Reese
Co-Captain- Eli Elezra
2) Patrick Antonious
15) Kenna James
18) Lee Watkinson
31) Men Nguyen
34) Esther Rossi
47) David Williams

Team 3:
Co-Captain- John Juanda
Co-Captain- Erik Seidel
3) Annie Duke
14) Antonio Esfandiari
19) Martin deKnijff
30) John D'Agostino
35) Mimi Tran
46) Phil Gordon

Team 4:
Co-Captain- Barry Greenstein
Co-Captain- Phil Ivey
4) David Benyamine
13) Vanessa Rousso
20) Chad Brown
29) Josh Arieh
36) Tuan Le
45) Mike Caro

Team 5:
Co-Captain- Chris Ferguson
Co-Captain- Ted Forrest
5) Gus Hansen
12) Phil Laak
21) Joe Cassidy
28) Jack Fox
37) Clonie Gowen
44) Paul Darden

Team 6: "The Professionals"
Co-Captain- Daniel Negreanu
Co-Captain- Jennifer Harman
6) Gabe Thaler
11) Freddie Deeb
22) David Chiu
27) Nick Schulman
38) Mike Matusow
43) Evelyn Ng

Team 7:
Co-Captain- Mike Sexton
Co-Captain- Cyndy Violette
7) Scotty Nguyen
10) Robert Williamson
23) Michael Mizrachi
26) Gavin Smith
39) Jennifer Tilly
42) Liz Lieu

Team 8:
Co-Captain- Doyle Brunson
Co-Captain- Todd Brunson
8) Hoyt Corkins
9) Isabelle Mercier
24) Humberto Brenes
25) Michael Gracz
40) Chip Jett
41) Tony Guoga

Those are what the final teams looked like along with where they were picked overall. Now, before you wonder how so many great young players were picked so late, it's important to understand that the players were all grouped together and a team could only pick one player from each group.

Thus, the strategy going into picking your team shouldn't be based solely on who you think the best player was, but more so, it's important to pick the player that sticks out in a group. In that sense, I was more prepared for this draft than anyone else. I've done pools like this all my life and was totally prepared for the twists and turns. In the end, if you look at the core of six players that we drafted I think we ended up with the best group.

Also important to understand, the PPL game structure will likely be one that benefits those players that excel in cash games, while those that do well in tournaments but poorly in cash games dropped considerably on my depth chart. There were six pools of 8 players in each group. The pools looked like this:

Pool A:
Danny Alaei
Joe Cassidy
John D'Agostino
Michael Gracz
Tuan Le
Michael Mizrachi
Nick Schulman
David Williams

Pool B:
Josh Arieh
Antonio Esfandiari
Layne Flack
Tony Guoga
Kenna James
Phil Laak
Mike Matusow
Gavin Smith

Pool C:
Chad Brown
Paul Darden
Phil Gordon
Chip Jett
Gabe Thaler
Amir Vahedi
Lee Watkinson
Robert Williamson

Pool D:
Annie Duke
Clonie Gowen
Linda Johnson
Isabelle Mercier
Evelyn Ng
Esther Rossi
Vanessa Rousso
Jennifer Tilly

Pool E:
Patrik Antonius
David Benayamine
Humberto Brenes
David Chiu
Martin Deknijff
Gus Hansen
Liz Lieu
Carlos Mortenson

Pool F:
Mike Caro
Hoyt Corkins
Freddie Deeb
Jack Fox
Chau Giang
Men Nguyen
Scotty Nguyen
Mimi Tran

I had a distinct strategy going into the draft and it was one in which we would be reacting to picks being made by the other captains. I wasn't going to fall in love with any one player, instead, I wanted to make sure we got a player that we felt was above the mean.
Pool A was just so strong that it made little sense to pick from that group early. I mean seriously, which one of those guys sucks? None, any one of those picks were fabulous. We had Daniel Alaei as our number one pick in that group, but if we couldn't get him we felt like any of the other players were solid. So, here is who I picked and why:

6) Gabe Thaler- Without a doubt, the absolute steal of the draft and getting him allowed our team to have so much leverage. Many of you might not know Gabe, but in my opinion, and I think in the the opinion of most poker insiders who know, he was the class of his group. No disrespect to the other players in the group, but Gabe's game is tailor made for the PPL. For probably the last 10 years or so he has not only been a professional poker player, but he plays one game: no limit hold'em cash games.
Aside from the fact that I felt like his level of skill was high, he is also well liked by everyone. Easy to get along with and an extremely hard worker. A fabulous first pick in every sense of the word.

11) Freddie Deeb- If there was one player in the world that I would say plays a game most similar to mine, this would be the guy. Freddie and I approach the game in a similar fashion and I'm a fan of his play. Not to mention the fact that Freddie, along with being a WSOP and WPT champion has been cutting his teeth in pot/no limit games across the world for ages.
From a strategic perspective, the Freddie pick was a no-brainer. By the time the 11th pick rolled around Chau Giang, Scotty Nguyen, and Hoyt Corkins were all gone from that group. Getting Freddie was a must.

22) David Chiu- Yet another truly great poker player in every sense of the world. A gentleman that is an absolute team player, David too has been a highly successful cash game player well before the "poker boom." David is probably better known for his outstanding limit hold'em skills, but hold'em is hold'em, and David's hold'em instincts are second to none.
The David pick was absolutely 100% forced. I had planned on picking from that group a little later on, but when Patrick Antonious, David Benyamine, Carlos Mortenson, Martin Deknijff, and Gus Hansen were already chosen by then, I felt like David Chiu stuck out like a soar thumb versus the remaining players in his group.

27) Nick Schulman- This was without a doubt the most difficult pick of the day for our team. Since I had to pick David Chiu from the previous group it left me with a dilemma I never thought I'd face. I needed a woman, as well as a player from groups A and B. I'd already decided prior to the draft that we would use our last pick on a woman, so it left me with the following dilemma:
We had Josh Arieh very high on our list. Frankly, the 22nd pick was supposed to be Josh but since my hand was forced with David Chiu I had to put that on hold.
The dilemma we now faced was this: we wanted Nick badly, but we also wanted Josh. It was highly unlikely that we'd get both. Not only that, we had John D'Agostino very high on our list as well.
It was the first time Jennifer and I had any sort of a debate during the entire draft. We changed our minds several times. After much thought, I felt like it was slightly more likely that if we took Nick first that Josh might still be there. If we took Josh, Nick was gone.
It basically came down to either having: Nick Schulman/Mike Matusow or Josh Arieh/either Tuan Le or David Williams. Matusow is a wild card in this sort of thing, but if there is anyone that can control him I figured that Jennifer and I could. When Mike plays well, we all know he is a top player.
As for Nick Schulman, you all know him from winning the WPT event in Foxwoods. What you probably don't know is that he was cut from the same cloth as everyone on our team. He was a hustler as a teenager, starting and pool and then moving on to poker. Sound familiar?
Nick is 22 years old and has already earned the respect of his high limit peers in the Bellagio top section. Raw talent and oodles of potential. In fact, his peers in the tough pool A all had high praise for him. Many of them feeling he was #2, a close second behind Alaei.
If you see my face when I made the pick it may seem as though I was disappointed. It wasn't that I wasn't gung ho about Nick, but I just knew we'd lose Josh.

38) Mike Matusow- As expected, we nabbed Mikey with our fifth pick. I'll tell you one thing, Mike seemed to be very disappointed that he went so late and that could bode very, very well for our team. Having Mike hungry and wanting to prove something is a big plus for us. He has the potential to play great for long spurts, but obviously, the big worry with Mike is the famous, "Matusow blow-up," that we've seen on TV many times.
Mike doesn't exactly fit the prototype of our team. For the most part, we have a group of mild mannered players that gel really well. When picking Mike, that's always a concern, but I KNEW that Freddy, David, Jenn, myself, etc. all genuinely liked Mike. The greatest thing about our team is the Kum Bye Ya atmosphere. We have a great chemistry.

43) Evelyn Ng- Frankly, I had Evelyn ranked in the top end of the group for this particular format, but I did my homework leading up to the draft and was very confident that she'd be available in the last round. I was a little shocked that more women weren't available near the end because in my opinion the margin of skill from top to bottom is similar to pool A's.
Nabbing Evelyn, another pool player turned poker player, we ensure that the entire group has nothing but positive chemistry. Aside from that, I believe that the PPL format will be a format that is designed for Evelyn to excel. Her strengths as a poker player are better suited for cash play. Her weaknesses, possibly short stack tournament play, will not be a factor in the PPL format.


Looking at the draft picks now it's clear to me that some of the captains were not as prepared as they should have been. Several players picked in the first two rounds would have easily been available in the later rounds, but picks were wasted out of panic.
As for me, I had faith in my system and felt like all the hard work had been done well before the draft even began. At that point, it was just about filling in the blanks.

When our team assembled for dinner it was time to decide on a team name. We wanted something that best described as a group. As I looked around the table, one thought kept coming to my mind: we have the only team that is full of professional poker players. Not businessmen turned pro, but grinders and hustlers that made good.

So with that, we thought, what better than simple... "The Professionals."

[/ QUOTE ]

Re: Barry\'s Comments
 

Williams at 47th. Shows you what the pros think of him.

Mercier at 10th. Todd must have a hard-on for her. Same for Rousso.

Re: Barry\'s Comments
 

Who are Jack Fox and Esther Rossi?

Honestly, this whole format sounds like a terrible idea. Why would anyone root for one team or the other? Team sports work as spectator sports because of regional pride. As it stands, there seems to be no reason for the average person to root for one team over the other. Moreover, poker isn't a team sport to begin with.

If they really felt the need to use "team" format, they would have been better off making the "Pools" the teams, so that you could choose to root for the young guys, or the old guys, or the women, or the Europeans, or whatever, rather than eight random players against eight other random players.

Re: Barry\'s Comments
 

This is quite an interesting project, altough I seriosuly doubt it will work as well as the players/owners think it will.

Teams 4 to 6 looks the strongets. I wonder how they paired the captains, but having Ivey and Barry on the same team and TJ and Tomko on another is pretty unfair. I feel sorry for Alaei.

Re: Barry\'s Comments
 

I think that, with time, the league should develoup into a more regional and themebased event like football.

As an european, I would love to see a pool comprised of good european players like Gus Hansen, Benyamine, Demetriou, Devilfish, Crazy Horse etc. Let them duke it out against a "legend" group, a "young gun" group, a "girly" group, a "grinder" group etc.

Distinction is key if we, as spectators, are going to rally behind any given group or team.

My two cents as an (or do you say a european?) european.

Re: Professional Poker League
 

When does it start anyways ?

Re: Professional Poker League
 

It looks like it'll be starting in January 07. I just saw on pokerblog.com a post from someone who asked Phil Gordon about the PPL at a book signing yesterday. Looks to be using a similar format to HSP: 100k in chips, 300/600 NLH.

Re: Professional Poker League
 

[ QUOTE ]
It looks like it'll be starting in January 07. I just saw on pokerblog.com a post from someone who asked Phil Gordon about the PPL at a book signing yesterday. Looks to be using a similar format to HSP: 100k in chips, 300/600 NLH.

[/ QUOTE ]

This looks like it may be a hit just like HSP with poker players. Let's just hope it turns out fine. I'm really looiking forward to it.

Re: Professional Poker League
 

Anyone know what network will be carrying the PPL for broadcast?

Re: Barry\'s Comments
 

[ QUOTE ]
My two cents as an (or do you say a european?) european.

[/ QUOTE ]

A European.

Re: Barry\'s Comments
 

Mike Matusow mentioned something yesterday on FTP about being picked 38th and how he would play the first 37 heads up NL for any amount.

I opened an account there yesterday and no I'm not a professional railbird.

Re: Barry\'s Comments
 

I don't see Erick Lindgren's name. Any word why he is not involved in the PPL?

Never mind I found the answer:

here

Re: Barry\'s Comments
 

Erick is a team captain

Nevermind...didn't notice the change.
I'm actually writing the bios for these guys for the PPL..and his name was still on the list when I started.